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By John C. Gifford, Charles L. Thomas

A unique and reproducible method is presented for the determination of water vapor in tough pitch wire bar copper. The procedure involves reduction of the water vapor with molten aluminum to form hydrogen, which is subsequently measured by mass spectroscopy. Average water vapor pressures within the porosities of the wire bar samples are calculated. Correlation is to exist between the specific gravities of the samples and their measured water vapor contents. The method should find application as a very sensitive means of detecting hydrogen embrittlement in copper. The nature and quantity of gases evolved and retained during the horizontal casting of tough pitch wire bar copper have long been of interest to the metallurgist. Considerable work has been done at this laboratory on the determination of these gases. The work has involved not only qualitative but also quantitative analysis, so as to provide a basis for a total accounting of the porosity which is associated with the cast product. From a knowledge of the gas-forming elements within the copper, and the practice of melting and protecting it with a reducing flame followed by contact with a charcoal cover in the casting ladle, the gases which one might expect to find in the pores of the cast product are sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and water vapor. Hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen, and hydrocarbons would be other possibilities; however vacuum fusion-mass spectroscopy techniques employed at this laboratory have shown that no hydrogen sulfide and only traces of nitrogen and methane are present. It is highly improbable according to phillipsl that any sulfur dioxide could be evolved in wire bar copper with 10 ppm or less sulfur under normal freezing conditions. Mackay and smith2 have noted that porosity due to sulfur dioxide only becomes noticeable at concentrations above 20 ppm S. Investigation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide by a variation in the method of Bever and Floe showed that these two gases could only account, at 760 mm and 1064°C (Cu-Cua eutectic temperature), for a maximum of about 25 pct of the total porosity in a wire bar having a specific gravity of 8.40 g per cu cm. phillips' has noted that no normal furnace atmosphere is ever sufficiently rich in hydrogen to cause porosity in copper from hydrogen alone. In addition, using a hot vacuum extraction technique for hydrogen,4 values have never been observed in excess of 10 ppb in tough pitch wire bar. On the basis of the preceding considerations of gases in tough pitch wire bar, only water vapor is left to account for the major portion of the porosity. Direct determinations of water vapor are virtually impossible at low concentrations by any presently known technique, due to adsorption and desorption within the walls of the apparatus used.5 The present investigation deals with a method for the determination of water vapor by an indirect procedure, using molten aluminum as a reducing agent to form hydrogen according to the reaction: 2A1 + 3H2O — A12O3 + 3H2 The evolved hydrogen can then be measured quantitatively by mass spectroscopy. EXPERIMENTAL A 10-g piece of 99.9+ pct A1 was charged into a porous alumina crucible (Laboratory Equipment Co., No. 528-30). Fig. 1 shows the crucible in place at the bottom of an 8-in.-long quartz thimble. A funnel tube with two l1/8-in.-OD sidearms extending at a 90-deg angle from each other was attached to the top of the thimble. One of the sidearms was joined to the inlet system of the mass spectrometer (Consolidated Electrodynamics Corp. Model 21-620A) via a mercury diffusion pump situated between two dry-ice traps. The copper samples were placed in the other sidearm, followed by a glass-enclosed magnetic stirring bar for pushing the samples into the crucible. All ground joints were sealed with vacuum-grade wax. The entire system was evacuated and the aluminum was heated with a T-2.5 Lepel High Frequency Induction Furnace for 21/2 hr at a temperature visually estimated to be 900°C. The temperature was then lowered and the hydrogen was monitored on the mass spectrometer until it was given off at a constant rate of about 4 to 5 1 per hr. This rate corresponded to a slope of 2 to 3 divisions per min on the X3 attenuation of a 10-mv recorder at a hydrogen sensitivity of approximately 100 divisions per 1. A micromanometer (Consolidated Electrodynamics Corp. Model 23-105)

Jan 1, 1969

By J. D. R. Neilsen

The objective of the research conducted and presented herein was to determine the effect of pre-established free gas saturation on the sweep efficiency of an isolated inverted five-spot well pattern. The investigation concluded that the ultimate recovery of an isolated inverted five-spot may be slightly increased by establishing a free gas saturation prior to water flooding; however, of more significance is the extreme deviation of the pattern's performance after water break-through from that commonly obtained from developed well patterns. The rapid "water-out" characteristic common to both linear floods and floods conducted in developed well patterns was not evidenced in the isolated inverted five-spot. Instead, the wells continued to produce oil long after breakthrough until ultimate areal sweep efficiencies of four, five, and six hundred percent were obtained prior to the water-oil ratio becoming excessive.

Jan 1, 1962

By Charles Maier

IT has long been supposed that when crystalline materials are com-minuted the energy used in the production of increasingly smaller grain sizes is not entirely dissipated as heat but that a certain portion is "stored" as a part of the internal energy of the material. This portion usually has been called the "surface energy" of the particles. The practical interest of the Bureau of Mines in this subject in connection with the energy requirements of crushing processes has led to the author's attempt to measure the "stored" energy in finely divided calcite by heat-of-solution methods1. The experiments on calcite showed that "storage" of energy could not be proved for this material, because fine grinding caused a lack of chem-ical homogeneity evidenced by loss of carbon dioxide and subsequent adsorption of water on the surfaces of the calcite particles. When thermochemical correction was made for composition changes the cor-rected heat of solution was less for fine material than for coarse. Con-tinuation of the experimental work into the problem of comparing work and heat in the deformation of metallic crystals, where the calorimetric difficulties were less, showed, however, that in the case of copper and aluminum a real discrepancy between work and heat could be shown. similar results had previously been obtained by Farren and Taylor2 and Hort3 and more or less simultaneously with the author's work by

Jan 1, 1936

By Charles Eichrodt

THE ore that is being treated by the present plant lies between the leached zone, or capping, and the mixed sulfide and oxide zone. The principal copper minerals are chalcanthite (CuSO4.5H20), brochantite (CuS04 3Cu (OH)2) and atacarnite, (CuC12.3Cu (OH)2). There are, in addition, some other minerals such as cuprite and kröhnkite (CuSO4. Na2SO4.2H20). These minerals, with many others, occur in a greatly crushed granodiorite rock. Most of the copper-bearing minerals occur in the cracks and veinlets, but there are disseminated values and it is probably the relative proportion of these that accounts for some otherwise unexplainable variations in extraction. The entire mineralization of the ore is complex and varies with depth. This variation, the problems presented thereby, and the effect of various constituents of the ore will be taken up in detail. An analysis of an unweighted composite of the ore treated during 1927 follows:

Jan 1, 1930

By Ven Mercade

The flotation of calcite has been studied by many investigators, especially in terms of type of collector; pH; and metal ions that activate and, more importantly, depress the flotation of calcite (1)(2). Research was extended to the investigation of the effect of polyvalent metal salts and sodium silicate using these materials added separately or in mixtures (3)(4)(5)(6). Flotation of calcite was also studied with respect to its function as a carrier in the beneficiation of kaolin clays by Ultraflotation (7) (8) (9). The carrier used in Engelhard Minerals & Chemicals Corporation's industrial Ultraflotation operation is calcite. This fact, coupled with the continuing interest in Ultraflotation phenomena, led to a study to determine the effect of polyvalent metal-silicate hydrosols on the flotation of calcite.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. M. Hsiung

Chain pillar design formula under weak roof condition was developed by statistically analyzing the results from the three dimensional finite element parametric analyses. The parameters such as mechanical properties of the roof and floor strata, overburden depth, panel width and length, and coal strength were incorporated in the formula. A conversion formula which transfers a rectangular chain pillar into a square chain pillar of equal strength is proposed. The influence of high in-situ horizontal stresses, which are often encountered in the coalfield, on chain pillar stability is also discussed.

Jan 1, 1984

By William C. Miller

This report describes investigations by the Bureau of Mines designed to establish the noise level and spectrum of various types of pneumatic rock drills and to furnish information that would be useful in conducting sound measurements in mining environments and in reducing the noise generated in pneumatic drilling. These investigations show that (1) the noise generated by the drills in the frequencies below 100 cps is caused by the impact of the piston and drill steel, in the frequency range between 100 and 2,000 cps by the exhausting of air from the ports, and in the frequencies above 2,000 cps by the resonant frequencies of steel drill parts and of drill steel; (2) satisfactory instruments and instrumentation systems are available for field and laboratory measurements; (3) reliable sound measurements can be made in mining environments; and (4) devices can be developed that will abate the noise.

Jan 1, 1963

By Leandro Nakamura Alves Vieira

O acirramento da competição no mercado de aço tem exigido esforços de inovação e redução de custos. Por sua vez, as técnicas agrupadas como ICME - Integrated Computational Materials Engineering vêm acelerando o desenvolvimento e a otimização de materiais e processos de fabricação. O emprego destas técnicas tem sido uma ferramenta extra para assegurar a competitividade na indústria. Neste trabalho o uso da termodinâmica computacional no desenvolvimento e processamento de aços elétricos é revisado através da discussão de exemplos. Cálculos de equilíbrios mais relevantes para o processo de fabricação destes aços (tanto de grão não orientado-GNO como orientado-GO) permitem obter informações sobre as transformações de fases, solubilização de precipitados (sulfetos e nitretos) essenciais para a obtenção de texturas cristalográficas ideais. Os cálculos são discutidos e comparados com resultados reais. Discutem-se ainda, cálculos no sistema aço-gás, e os efeitos da composição da atmosfera na formação de óxidos na superfície do aço. Tais cálculos são importantes para descrever previamente as transformações que ocorrem durante as várias etapas de fabricação, assim como os efeitos dos parâmetros de processo sob os aços elétricos. A aplicação da técnica permite otimizar o processamento e o desenvolvimento dos aços elétricos em diversos aspectos. As vantagens e limitações do método, assim como o potencial de outras técnicas de ICME, na área, são discutidas.

Aug 7, 2018

By R. O. Kneisley

This U.S. Bureau of Mines report summarizes a study of large-scale strata response to longwall mining at a western U.S. coal mine. This study utilized surface and subsurface measurements, geologic mapping, in situ stress measurements, and pressure cell readings to characterize strata behavior. Preliminary analysis of surface subsidence and time-domain reflectometry (TDR) was used to determine a suggested main roof caving sequence. Coal ejected from the face apparently resulted from brittle failures that occurred because of lack of significant yield zone development. The combination of a strong coal with pronounced directional behavior, low overburden pressures, a good caving roof, and a high-production environment that minimized time-dependent loading apparently reduced yielding of the longwall face. The panel 1 headgate-entry design appears adequate; however, the abutment pillar and adjacent panel tailgate rib are highly stressed and may contribute to problems during second panel mining. The small chain pillar yielded after passage of the face, but the pillar width may be near maximum since evidence of a stressed core exists.

Jan 1, 2010

By Paul M. Tyler

THE farmer pays the phosphate miner! Phosphorus is used in fireworks; goes to battle in military smoke screens, incendiary shells, and tracer bullets; and, in vermin destroying pastes, does its part in the war against insects. A lemon phosphate can be had for a nickel at most soda fountains, and tens of thousands of tons of phosphate rock are mined annually for use in the food industries, chiefly for making monocaleium phosphate baking powder. Sodium phosphate cleaning, washing, and scouring compounds consume substantial quantities: the iron and steel industries buy a few thousand tons yearly to make ferrophosphorus and to balance foundry-iron furnace charges; and even nonferrous metallurgists use a little for phosphor bronze and other alloys. Phosphoric acid, its salts, and diverse other derivatives of this versatile element have countless applications, and industrial outlets are increasing rapidly, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, in this country nearly 90 per cent and in the whole world fully 95 per cent of the phosphate rock consumed is absorbed ultimately in agriculture.

Jan 1, 1938

THREE regional meetings are planned for this summer and fall following the spring meeting held under the auspices of the Iron and Steel Committee and the Ohio Section at Cleveland in April and in lieu of a general fall meeting of the Institute. Plans for all of them are maturing rapidly. Excellent programs and. interesting visits to points of local tech¬nical interest are already assured. THE SALT LAKE CITY MEETING This meeting will be under the auspices of the Milling Committee and the Utah Section. It will be one of the features of the joint convention held the week of August 22 to 26 with the Western Division of the American Mining Congress. The Congress will be responsible for the general arrangements and for the program on the first day. The following general committees have been appointed:

Jan 7, 1927

By M. H. Haycock

Introduction The property of Rouyn Merger Gold Mines, Limited, is in Rouyn and Joannès townships, Western Quebec, seven miles east of the town of Rouyn. Traversing it is the east-west trending Cadillac-Bouzan fault. Diamond drilling in 1944 and 1945 along a shear zone south of the fault indicated an ore deposit lying at the contact between sedimentary and volcanic rocks and dipping approximately 60° to the northwest. In the summer of 1945 it was decided to sink a shaft to investigate the indicated ore zone. In the immediate vicinity of the deposit, bed-rock is overlain by clay beds, in some places as much as 70 feet thick. Consequently, possible shaft sites were limited to those locations where overburden would not be excessive. The most favourable site was about 125 feet to the south of the ore zone as projected vertically from bed-rock to the surface. Accordingly, it was decided to sink the shaft at this point, with an inclination of 60° N. W., paralleling the dip of the ore zone.

Jan 1, 1948

By David A. Newman

In the 1950s, an underground limestone mine in the Camp Nelson Formation was developed from an outcrop exposure. The Camp Nelson Limestone met the requirements for DOT stone and aggregate. The mine ownership changed several times, which resulted in distinct mine designs in Level 1. Based upon the production requirements and an attempt to maximize limestone recovery from a single level, a variety of pillar dimensions and three mining heights (28 feet, 68 feet and 83 feet) were developed. This was sufficient prior to reaching the mineable extent of Level 1. Level 2 introduced previously unknown ground control challenges. These included: ??Pillar spalling and a significant back fall on the Level 1 - Level 2 decline; ??Laminated immediate back and the need to bolt the back on Level 2; ??Delamination of the back adjacent to the Level 1 - Level 2 decline resulting in bolt shearing, and floor heave in isolated areas of Level 2; ??Multiple level interaction, the need to design pillars based upon numerical modeling as columnization between Levels is infeasible: and ??Water inflow as the mine approached river. To meet the challenges, a testing program to determine rock strength and physical properties was implemented along with numerical (LAMODEL and FEM) modeling, and borescope inspections of the immediate back. The efforts to implement rock mechanics were re-focused as Level 2 approached its mineable limit and the initial attempt to drive a decline to Level 3 was unsuccessful. A second decline site was selected based on inter burden stability, a consistent shale parting for the Level 3 back horizon, results from numerical models of the immediate back and multiple level interactions, and the projected low water inflow. The mine is operating on Levels 2 and 3 with long-term planning and ground monitoring for Level 3.

Jan 1, 2014

By John E. Butler

Due to the present economic climate, particularly the depressed copper market, conventional mining, milling and flotation operations have been suspended. However, due to the apparent amenability of the ore to 'natural' leaching, investigations have been initiated into establishing an in-situ leaching operation as a preferred alternative to conventional operations. Cement copper production has been developed in parallel with the leaching trials and is presently at the rate of approximately 3,000 tonnes of contained copper per annum. Testwork includes controlled leaching of ore both in the laboratory and in-situ following blasting.

Jan 1, 1981

By F. J. Perzak

The Bureau of Mines conducted a study to develop a standard fire test for 5-gal containers used for storing combustible fluids in underground coal mines. A standard test method was developed which evaluates the performance of the container in a 4-min tray fire. Bureau investigators used the standard test method to evaluate several types of closed 5-gal plastic and metal cans in outdoor tests. Each can tested contained 1 gal of nonfire-resistant (NFR) hydraulic oil. A container failed the test if it lost its contents in any of seven trials. Contents spilled either as a result of thermal rupture or melting. Fewer than 10 pct of the metal containers failed this criterion, but all the plastic containers failed. The metal container failures were usual-ly due to tipping over during pressure relief, which spilled the NFR oil. Replacing the NFR oil in the container with kerosene resulted in failure of more than 30 pct of the metal containers. The standard tests and preliminary tests showed that plastic containers are not equivalent to metal containers in their ability to contain combustibles such as lubricants and greases in a fire. For solvents and lubricants more volatile than NFR hydraulic oil, approved metal safety containers are recommended.

Jan 1, 1985

By Rahul Sharma

Although, mining of minerals such as polymetallic nodules and sulphides from the deep sea floor has been delayed due to the combination of factors such as current availability of Cu, Ni, Co, Mn (and other metals) on land and their fluctuating prices; these deposits are still considered as the alternative source for metals in the 21st century. Exclusive rights for exploration in the ?Area? (beyond the national jurisdictions of any country) given to eight countries and consortia by the International Seabed Authority and the estimated resource of 300 million tonnes in a typical area of 75,000 km2 is expected to yield about $17.5 billion (at December 2008 metal prices) in 20 years life span of a single nodule mine-site. In order to recover 3 million tonnes of nodules, an area of 300 sq km only will be mined annually (i.e. <1 km2/day) for an optimum abundance of 10 kg/m2. However, during mining, large quantity (22 tonnes/day) of sediments associated with nodules would be resuspended that could lead to certain environmental impacts on the benthic ecosystem. Several small-scale benthic impact experiments in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, have given some insight into the possible environmental impacts and the restoration processes, but the possibility of extrapolating these findings to a commercial mining scale remains an issue to be considered. An estimated capital expenditure of $1.05 billion and operating expenditure of $4.2 billion for a single deep-sea mining venture will have to be weighed against the availability of mineral ores on land as well as the metal prices in the world market. None-the-less, development of technologies for mining and metallurgical processing, as well as formulation of regulations and guidelines for potential ?contractors? to mine these minerals have been progressing consistently. These coupled with recent efforts by certain ?entrepreneurs? to initiate mining of seafloor massive sulphides in the EEZ of certain countries, indicate the continuing interest and support the perception that such deposits could well be the future sources of metals. This paper analyzes the current status and discusses the economic, environmental, and technical issues that need to be addressed for sustainable development of deep-sea minerals.

Jan 1, 2010

By S. C. Sun, T. Chao

The reaction of gaseous sulfur trioxide with different aluminum-bearing minerals for the conversion of their alumina content into water soluble sulfates has been investigated. Theoretical considerations indicate that this reaction is thermodynamically feasible and that preferential sulfatization can be accomplished. The five minerals tested were gibbsite, boehmite, diaspore, kaolinite, and halloysite. In general, over 90% sulfatization could be achieved in 1 hr when using sodium sulfate as an additive at a temperature between 500° and 600°C. It was found that sulfates of the light alkali and alkaline earth metals exhibited some effectiveness in promoting the sulfa-tizing reaction. Selective sulfatization of alumina in a mixture of calcined halloysite and ferric oxide was accomplished. The gas-solid type of sulfatizing reactions have become increasingly important in recent years for the treatment of the oxides of such nonferrous metals as cobalt,&apos; nickel,&apos; manganese,3 zinc, and copper.4-6 Similar reactions were attempted in the present investigation for the recovery of aluminum from the low grade aluminous ores. Unlike the Bayer process in which silica is a serious contaminant, or the acid processes whereby iron usually causes difficulties, the reactions between gaseous sulfur trioxide and various aluminous minerals could hopefully be selective for aluminum. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS Reactions between aluminum-bearing minerals and gaseous sulfur trioxide have been shown respectively in Table I and Fig. 1 to be thermodynamically favorable for temperatures below 1000°K approximately. Calculations of the thermodynamic functions were where ?G, ?H, ?Cp and ?S are changes in free energy, enthalpy, constant-pressure specific heat, and entropy of the system under consideration, respectively; T is the absolute temperature, R the universal gas constant, and K the equilibrium constant. Thermochemical data so far available for these calculations were based on sources given by T. Chao.7 In Table I, the free energy values indicate that reactions between the gaseous sulfur trioxide and

Jan 1, 1968

By Michel Dagbert

With the growing demand for energy, explora¬tion for uranium deposits has dramatically increased in the past few years. Since the early ages of uranium exploration, natural gamma ray logs has proved fast and convenient in locating and evaluating mineralized bodies. However, natural gamma ray logging is an indirect measure of the uranium content and in some circonstances, the radiometric signal can be &apos;altered in a very significant way. To check the presence of any distortion, statistical comparision of radiometric counts and chemical assay values for the same samples is generally performed. Of course in such studies, one inevitably mixes samples where the radiometric signal is really proportional to the uranium content and samples where this signal is influenced by many other sources or distorted before being recorded. Nevertheless, the average tendency leads to correction factors which are then applied to every radiometric reading in the deposit or portion of the deposit where the statistical comparison is made. To account for the "average" character of these correction factors, a parameter of uncertainty like a standard deviation of possible errors is associated to each corrected value. This parameter can be latter used in an ore reserve estimation when the weights assigned to samples should depend on the precision of their grade. The purpose of this paper is to present a new regression technique which can be used without any restrictive hypothesis like a normal or lognormal distribution. Different standard ways which can be used to statistically compare radiometric and chemical assay values for the same sample and to derive a correction factor for the latter will first be reviewed, after a general discussion of disequilibrium problems. The discussion and the examples will be restricted to the case of natural gamma ray logging in drill holes but the methods presented in this paper can also be applied to data from the radiometric probing of a working face or a truck load in an operating mine.

Jan 1, 1979

By Cristhian Guillén, Ned Vásquez

El presente trabajo técnico describe y analiza el proyecto para la implementación de la tecnología de explosivos denominada emulsión bombeable aplicado en el carguío mecanizado de tajos de producción SLS con perforaciones ascendentes y descendentes realizado en mina Cerro Lindo. Este proyecto tiene la finalidad de mejorar los KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) que actualmente maneja la operación. Por ello, el área técnica del sitio ha elaborado un protocolo de implementación, para efectuar la introducción y validación de la propuesta de valor de esta nueva tecnología.

Sep 29, 2023

By B. F. Haanel

IN the fall of 1929, a paper was presented at the Annual Western Meeting of the Institute entitled The Fuel Research Laboratories at Ottawa and the Scope of Their Investigations. At that time, the equipment of the laboratories had not been completely installed, but the regular routine work was being carried on as usual, and several large-scale investigations were being conducted. It is now five years since that paper was presented, and it seems fitting that a brief description of the investigations which have been undertaken, together with results-especially those which have reference to western Canadian fuels-be presented at this Annual Western Meeting. The coal mining industry of western Canada has, within the past few years, suffered many unfortunate vicissitudes. The replacement of coals by oil, for bunkering ships, for operating railway locomotives, and for heating, has weighed heavily on the coal mining industry of British Columbia and Alberta generally, but more particularly in the Crowsnest Pass area and Vancouver-and hydro-electric developments have also left their impress. With a full appreciation of these conditions, the Department of Mines planned research and large-scale investigations which it was considered would be of the greatest benefit to the coal industry, and the results have amply justified the plans and anticipations. The fact, however, must not be lost sight of, that the application of the findings of certain of these investigations would not have been feasible had not the Federal Government assisted the transportation of coal by the application of railway subventions. These subventions permitted Canadian coals to compete at competitive points with United States coals, and it must be admitted also in this connection that certain of the collieries which have benefitted, both as a result of the railway subventions and the investigations conducted by the Fuel Research Laboratories of the Department of Mines, made special efforts to produce a coal which was capable of competing with the American product, by special preparation at the mines.

Jan 1, 1936